Dinosaur Island Play Tray | Tuff Spot Ideas

Does your child have a special interest in Dinosaurs? Perhaps you are learning about a dinosaur topic or how dinosaurs have become extinct and would like to create a tuff tray play tray to enhance your learning environment and allow for open ended play and exploration? 

In this post I have a large dinosaur island tuff tray with lots of loose parts, and an alternative smaller scale play tray with dinosaurs past and also dinosaurs present with a special fossil hunting activity!!

The beauty of loose parts is that children can move and explore all of the objects to create their own scenes, ideas and narratives. Nothing is permanent, so nothing gets ‘ruined’, nothing has to be ‘put back how you found it’ and nothing is ‘wrong’. When there are no limits set on play, children have the chance to take ownership without fear of failure, or, fear of creating too much mess to clean up. Your set up doesn’t have to be perfect (it won’t stay as it is for long anyway), it just needs to be inspiring, interesting, exciting and provoke a sense of wonder - inviting children to come and have a look, a touch and eventually a full on play!

Coffee Beans Sensory Play Tray | Tuff Tray ideas

A sensory tuff tray exploring coffee beans using a manual coffee grinder, old coffee machine, cafetiere and some information on how we extended the coffee beans activity once they had all been ground up!

Disclosure - this post includes collaborative and affiliate links

A few weeks prior to this coffee beans sensory play tray activity, I had picked up a manual coffee grinder in a charity shop and ‘left it’ in the playroom for the children to discover and try to figure out what it was and what it could do... The children loves exploring and experimenting, and here is what we got up to when we finally got round to using it for real!

Solid Wood Floors and Cast Iron Gates - A Look Back

Finding myself stuck within the four walls of my home for the last few months, I've been thinking about what really makes a house a home? What will my children remember the most about their time here? 

My dreams have been filled with images and memories of my own childhood home. The solid wood floor, and the feel of its grain beneath your feet. The cast iron gates I'd open for school each morning - and the way I tested my own strength by my ability to push them open with one or two hands. 

AD: This is a collaborative post  

So many of my memories were focused around the more natural resources around the house. The rough feel of the red brick, turned green by moss on the outside. The musty smell of the cellar with its concrete steps and the way we used to 'polish' the hardwood floor in the boardroom by spraying our socks with a can of Pledge and skating around the room to 'don't you want me baby?' by The Human League...

How to make mini glitter alphabet letters using UV Resin

A quick post and video demonstrating how to make mini glitter alphabet letters using UV Resin, for loose parts and letter matching.

 

These letters are much smaller than some of large resin letters that you see - and so rather than epoxy resin which requires mixing and pouring, I have made these mini glitter resin letters using UV resin with a thin nozzle attachment. If you would like to find out how to make these resin alphabet loose parts, have a watch of the video below...

Top Tips for managing Play with different aged children

I decided to write this post after one of my Instagram followers asked me if I had any advice on managing play with children of different ages and different personalities. Like me, she has a 2 year old and a 5 year old and is finding that whilst the older child interacts positively with the play invitations she sets up, her 2 year old often throws objects at walls, bangs them together etc and sets off down a path of destruction. ( I should note here that this family also have a new baby and the older child is usually at school, but under the currently isolation policy they are now all at home together).

  

It's a common scenario, and I remember my eldest being very similar at aged 2 when his baby sister arrived and we were stuck at home in the summer holidays. The preschool/nursery routine is out of the window, the 1:1 time with the main carer is suddenly a thing of the past and the world of the toddler is suddenly very different and a little bit unsettling. Add in a need to be very active and burn off a lot of energy and it can be a real struggle to fulfill their needs. Many children will resort to destructive, aggressive or frustrating behaviour in order to gain what little attention they can, and also to manage their own feelings and emotions. 

Twinning with Positive Clothing from Peonies & Peace

Peonies & Peace is the positive clothing shop from the wellbeing and sustainability blog: The Less - Refined mind. Specialising in organic, ethical apparel for babies, kids and adults - if you're looking for a positive message with a gender neutral design, then this is the place to look...

AD: Some of the items pictured were gifted for the purpose of this post. I have previously purchased items from this shop by choice. 

The 4th 'baby' of Kate, author and owner of the blog/shop and mum to two girls - it has never felt as easy to support a small business as it does when you know the business is supporting the values you believe in: Positivity. Liberalism. Feminism. Sustainability. Responsible clothing. Caring for the planet. Striving for Peace...( and if you want to chuck a few peonies in there, then why not)...

Easy home-made pretend role-play food from every day items

Want to know how to make some quick and easy home made, pretend role-play food from every day household items? 

This post will show you how to make some fake Battenberg cake, pretend sponge cakes, fake ice cream, pretend spaghetti and meatballs, chips, crumpets and more....

The Day the World Stayed At Home | Poem

The Day the World Stayed at Home - Poem

How to make Needle Felted Number Hearts for Loose Parts

Needle felted loose parts are a lovely tactile resource for children to use within their play. These rainbow felted hearts with numbers 1-10 are great when used alongside numicon and other natural resources and loose parts on a play tray - adding in another sensory element with different textures and weights. They are SO easy to make, simultaneously calming and stress busting as you focus on producing something achievable with a repetitive stabbing movement to get rid of any internal angst!

This blog post will give you some step by step images and instructions for how to make your own needle felted hearts, as well as an accompanying video to demonstrate and a list of resources you will need in order to make your own felt hearts with numbers...

60+ Play Ideas for when you're stuck at home

Whether you're stuck at home due to a rainy day, feeling under the weather yourself or having to self-isolate due to a global pandemic (Corona Virus COVID-19 I'm looking at you!), you'll probably find that cabin fever sets in pretty quickly without some quick and easy play activities to keep your little ones entertained!

Most of these play at home, indoor activities are super simple to set up, and utilise resources that you will likely have at home anyway. Just in case you don't, I'll include some relevant links to order online for home delivery. (Some of these links may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small amount of commission on qualifying purchases, but it wont cost you any more to buy them).

Cheap Carpets and Wipeable Walls - Preparing for life with kids

Are you currently looking to redesign your home, rethink your interiors or switch up your flooring? If so, then the first question I have for you is this: Do you have children, or plan on having children at some point in the near future? 

 If so, then I implore you - put away the expensive shopping list, ignore the calls of a luxury walkway and go and grab yourself a cheap carpet and some wipeable wall paint. I promise you will thank me for this later. 

AD: Paid partnership

There is nothing that screams 'unprepared!' quite like the chic and fashionable parents-to-be whose houses are adorned with mirrored tables, crystal vases, velvet furnishings and a fluffy, cream carpet that you dare not even breathe on. They haven't yet experienced sticky fingers. They don't know how a stream of wiped snot can make fibres clump together. Let's forgive them for believing that they won't mind Hinching the shiny surfaces every.single. minute....but the fact of the matter is, raisins get mashed into carpets and end up looking like something much, much worse. Save the luxury one for when they've left home and for the love of sanity - buy a cheap carpet for now.

Ikea Flisat Table | Skadis Pegboard | Desk Hack

Are you looking for some inspiration for the Ikea Flisat desk? Perhaps you would like to use this for smaller Tuff Tray activities, or maybe, you would like to combine the table with the Ikea Skadis pegboard, but are unsure of how to do this and which resources you need?

This post will tell you everything you need to know about the Ikea Flisat table / Skadis Pegboard desk hack...

(NB: Some of the links in this article are amazon affiliate links - it wont cost you anymore, but I may make commission on qualifying purchases.)

We have this IKEA Flisat table and Skadis pegboard in our Child-Led playroom at home, set up specifically for independent learning through play. This hack does not involve fastening the table to the wall and so this can be moved around the room easily...

Dietbon Diet Plan | Ready made meals for a busy lifestyle?

Sponsored PR sample

DietBon are a French company specialising in diet plan ready made meals, which are 100% natural, delivered straight to your door- tailored to your needs. The name, translated literally, means ‘good diet', and so we arranged for a weeks worth of meals to be sent to my husband to try out. He has a busy working life as a Leeds based Lawyer, which involved lots of travel, early mornings, late nights and office desk dinner dates! Ease of use and speedy preparation were key here, as well as a tasty meal of course!
 

First of all, DietBon make sure that their diet plan regime is right for you by scheduling in a call with one of their dieticians. Thomas had a call with an English speaking dietician based in France, who talked him through how the plan works and realistic expectations for the 7 day review plan. She explained that the diet plan is particularly popular amongst  Lawyers for its ease of use within a busy working lifestyle as the plan is made to be as simple as possible.  Weight loss expectations are roughly 3-4kg a month, depending on what his usual intake was like and how much exercise he does.

Gratnells Iconic Tray Challenge – Learning Rooms Play Activities

We have been busy setting up some tuff tray challenges on a smaller scale, using the iconic tray from Gratnells and taking inspiration from the Gratnells Learning Rooms project and What's in my Tray.

  

***Ad: We were gifted the iconic Gratnells trays in order to put together these activities, and compensated for our time*** 

The smaller Gratnells Trays fit perfectly into our Ikea Kallax shelving unit within our open plan, child-led playroom environment – allowing for a colour co-ordinated ‘iconic school tray’ challenge activity, by choice. The trays can be easily removed in order to access each individual activity, and then placed on the floor, table top or on a larger tuff spot tray. Similarly, the larger Gratnells trays can be placed on top of a stool, cable reel or an old tyre to create a tuff tray table at child height.

I have put together four moveable, learning through play challenges using the smaller, rainbow coloured Gratnells trays, and a further challenge using two of the larger Gratnells trays which you can see below...

Furnishing a Pink and Grey Lounge

I absolutely LOVE a pink and grey colour scheme! Now that we have finished our playroom extension, and finally have our lounge back, I have recently started to furnish the sitting room to include some blush and pale pink accents to work alongside the grey and I will be giving more details of these in the post. Get ready to cosy up and create a soft and calm interior within your living room...

***AD: The Beanbag in this post was gifted for the purpose of this review and giveaway. This post may also contain amazon affiliate links which will be indicated by an asterisk. For full disclosure please see me About Me page ***

One of the key rules I have had to stick to when adding pink accents to this room is that nothing is permanent. Everything that I have added in to create a blush rose hue to the grey interior can be easily removed, changed or moved around. It is still a work in progress, but I am really happy with the pieces I have included so far...

A child-led playroom for open ended learning through play

Within this post, I am going to be telling you a little bit more about child-led learning spaces - what is a child-led learning space? Why is child-led learning so important? and, how we can make a start to setting up a child-led playroom, using simple but effective provision? I will be demonstrating how this can still be achieved in smaller spaces – such as our playroom at home - with open ended resources for learning through play.
 

***You can find many of the resources pictures and mentioned throughout this post over in my Arthurwears Amazon Associate storefront, (click here for the USA version) or on the 'shop' tab on the main menu (please see my work with me page for a full disclosure) *** 

It’s taken me a while to write this post, mainly because I keep changing everything around SO often, and its always well used, so always a mess!

You can see my previous posts about the actual building of the playroom extension, and then how we came to decorate and choose the right type of flooring for the playroom before finally adding in the furniture and resources. (Although I do use the term ‘finally’ very loosely here as this space changes and evolves constantly!)

My regular readers will know how passionate I am about good quality continuous provision, and although I did choose a primary school for Arthur, where I felt the ethos leant itself well to learning through play, I know that the current pressures within schools and increasing formalisation of learning meant that I would have to make sure I was providing him with additional opportunities for open ended play at home. My aim with this playroom has always been to create a space which lends itself to child led learning, through play, and I will try to explain a little within this post as to why this is so important…

(you can scroll down to the bottom for a video tour of the playroom if you would prefer to watch this first)

Role Play | Postman Mail Bag | TUTORIAL

Perhaps your little one has a strong desire to emulate Postman Pat...or maybe just your local Postie...but whatever the reason, this DIY role play Postman mail bag tutorial will have them playing messenger and delivering handwritten letters in no time! Better still, the bag only needs 5 key resources to be complete! Excellent for encouraging mark making in the Early Years and ties in well with the topic 'People Who Help Us'....

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post but all thoughts and opinions are my own

Children LOVE to role play and act out scenarios from real life. One of the most constant 'people who help us' figures in every day life will be the local Postman or Postlady. Enabling your child to re-enact this role by providing them with a Postman messenger mail bag and some resources inside to write and make marks is a fantastic way to encourage early literacy in a fun way! 

These Postman bags also make fab home made gifts, and are REALLY EASY to make yourself.

Here is what you'll need:

Ice cream role play tuff tray

If you're looking for some good ideas and some fab resources for your ice cream role play tuff tray and sensory play, then look no further! All of the items in this blog post can be found in my Amazon afilliate store front, within the ice cream role play section here. (USA followers you can navigate to the US resource info here)

This post includes images, ideas, recipes for home made ice-cream playdough and a video of our jelly (Gelli!) and ice cream sensory tuff tray...PLUS A FREE PRINTABLE

You don't need to spend lots of money on commercial products for little ones when it comes to role play scenarios such as this, this post includes images from different ice cream role play activities we have set up - including home made ice cream playdough, gelli play jelly and ice cream (AD - Previously gifted), and some good old ice cream parlour play resources...